Tuesday, September 1, 2009

The holders of the Silver Bullet Lifetime Achievers Award are, of course, drug addicts and alcoholics.

They live and die by a belief system in which a small dusting of inert white powder or a beer will basically be sufficient, thanks, for all their needs.

We call that encapsulation.

The Runner-Up, however, in this world wide event are perennially Doctors and shrinks and government who find addicts and drunks just so darn pesky that well, it would be so nice if we could just find some QUICK answer.

For the addict, the Silver Bullet is the heroin or crack cocaine or gin.

These quick fixes involve little work, ZERO HUMANITY, and the hope is that these annoying bastards, who are not like us at all, Margaret, will just be quiet for a minute and stop whining and for sure stop breaking into the condo or the Prius.

Today is yet another shining smiley day in the lifeblood of The Silver Bullet Saga.

Witness:

"Landmark B.C. study lets trauma sufferers find relief with ecstasy

Vancouver therapists get green light to use drug in trial to treat post-traumatic stress"

Hahahaha...until I weep.

These sickos just won't stop, will they?

Today's cocktail is X.

Hate to be a party pooper, kids. But let's get real.

Post-traumatic stress is no Sunday picnic. It can in the fullness of time be overcome. But what is needed is ... wait we already said it... Time. And support and friendship and an ear and conversation and walking and swimming and air.

In other words, PTSD requires exactly what addicts require.

It's an old-fashioned concept, folks.

It's called WORK.

But governments and shrinks and doctors, exactly like their addict and PTSD patients, don't want to do the WORK.

They want a Silver Bullet.

Jonathan, who WORKS at a residential treatment centre where people WORK their way out of their misery, adds this:

I was once diagnosed with PTSD...do I still qualify?? Sheesh.

Well, if you keep people dependent, you control them. If you keep them dependent on drugs, they are presumably not as much trouble due to the fact that they become quite predictable...all they want is their next fix.

Creating an addiction that provides a predictable outcome is an easy way of looking socially responsible while assuaging the guilt associated with doing nothing and caring even less. Are they creating an addiction? Sure they are. Instead of spending time with a person and helping them overcome their trauma in a healthy manner, they give them a drug to feel better. And feel better they will...for a time. Unfortunately, instead of learning productive and healthy coping methods, many will continue to seek out the manufactured (illegitimate) good feelings provided by the local doctor/pharmacist of a professional or street professional variety.

For some reason it seems we believe we can manufacture happiness and connectedness, instead of realizing it is actually cultivated over long periods – often a lifetime.

Jonathan

This latest "announcement" is static noise. It is destructive, silly nonsense and should be ignored by all reasonable and compassionate people.

It is a resident evil and should be summarily smacked down into the dirt where it belongs.

The withdrawal of promised funds from BC Lotto to many, many local arts groups is a double and triple slap up side of the head.

Lotto monies are basically theft. They are a tax on the poor and the stupid and the hopeful. I qualify as I pre-buy a 649 ticket on the Internet perpetually. It costs me $4 a week, or the cost of a double cappuccino with skim milk, please.

More than $150 million is promised annually to symphonies and children's' festivals.

The monies that are now being withheld had already been promised and, in most cases, spent or committed because of that promise. Nice.

The government tells you that yes, you are getting your $47,622.51, so you go ahead and book the hall and have the posters printed, because hey, it's the government and they said so.

Oops! We were just kidding.

No money.

But the deepest cut of all is this.

This scurrilous behaviour speaks to Victoria's values.

In short, (aside from promises are NOT US) it tell us that roads and Olympic Games are important but music and paint and dance are not.

These are just frills, extras that can be indulged when times are good.

This isn't even good archeology, let alone sociology or psychology. It demonstrates a colossal ignorance of the human condition.

We have been painting on the walls and dancing around the fire since time began.

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain agreed to include Lockerbie bomber Abdel Basset al-Megrahi in a prisoner transfer deal with Libya because of "overwhelming interests" shortly before an oil deal was sealed with Tripoli, a newspaper reported on Sunday.

The Sunday Times said leaked letters from Justice Secretary Jack Straw undermined government denials of a link between the former Libyan agent's freedom and British trade interests.

Megrahi, 57, was released from jail on August 20 after Scottish authorities said his terminal cancer gave compassionate grounds for him to return home to die.

The British government has distanced itself from the decision, made by Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill, which has angered many relatives of the bombing's victims and the United States government, which lost 189 citizens.

Megrahi was the only person convicted of the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie that killed 270 people. His rapturous reception in Tripoli has been criticized by the British and U.S. governments.

The Sunday Times said two letters from Straw, dated five months apart, showed he reversed an original plan to exclude Megrahi from a prisoner transfer agreement that was being discussed with Libya.

The paper said the change of heart appeared to be linked to a stalled $900 million oil and gas exploration deal with Libya for British oil giant BP that was ratified a few weeks later.

BP has always denied any link between the deal and the prisoner agreement.

Straw wrote to MacAskill in July 2007 to say he favored excluding Megrahi from the prisoner transfer, an arrangement desired by the Scottish administration which has autonomous powers over most criminal matters.

But by December 2007 he told MacAskill his position had changed.

"The wider negotiations with the Libyans are reaching a critical stage and, in view of the overwhelming interests for the United Kingdom, I have agreed that in this instance the (prisoner transfer agreement) should be in the standard form and not mention any individual," the Sunday Times quoted Straw as writing.

Straw told BBC radio the alleged link between trade and Megrahi's release was an "absurd confection."

"The suggestion that at any stage there was some kind of backdoor deal done over Mr Megrahi's transfer because of trade is simply untrue," he said

The negotiations on prisoner transfers were part of a "normalization process" with Libya, he said.

London had made clear to Tripoli that Scotland would retain an absolute right to refuse a prisoner transfer, he added,

Straw said the issue was "academic" given that Scotland eventually released Megrahi on compassionate grounds and not under the transfer agreement.